The Brown & White

The baseball team went 1-2 this past weekend in its home opening doubleheader against the George Washington University Colonials.

The Hawks won game one 2-1, but dropped the next two games 10-4 and 8-1.

Senior pitcher Joe Matteo earned the win in the first game.

Matteo pitched his first complete game of the season while registering three strike-outs.

Lehigh's Head Coach Sean Leary said Matteo was possibly the Hawks' best player on the field that day.

"Matteo was definitely one of the stand-out players of the game," he said.

Matteo now holds a 3-0 record with a 3.65 ERA. His 3-0 is the best on the team.

Behind the strong pitching of Matteo, the Hawks' defense stood strong in game one, only allowing one run.

Lehigh knocked in the winning run when freshman left fielder Austin Borden hit an RBI double to right-center field.

The Colonials had a chance to score in the seventh inning, but a double play by the Hawks ended any chances the Colonials had.

The Hawks scored their first run in the second inning when senior center fielder Joe Ercolano drew a walk with the bases loaded.

The Colonials tied the game at one in the bottom half of the second inning.

The score was tied most of the game, despite a scoring opportunity with the bases loaded for the Colonials in the fifth inning.

Senior shortstop Liam O'Connor said although the team secured a win, there is still a lot of work to be done on offense.

"Offensively we need to do better," O'Connor said. "But our defense was solid."

After a short break, the players returned to the field to play the second game of the double header.

The Hawks were able to maintain their lead until the bottom of the eighth inning, when the Colonials took a 5-4 lead.

In the bottom of the eighth, the Mountain Hawks were able to get two players on base. However, they were not able to capitalize on their chance.

The Colonials took the game over in the ninth inning. George Washington's senior catcher Andrew Abokhair and freshman infielder Sean Rockey each hit home runs.

The Colonials scored five runs, taking a 10-4 lead.

With a six run deficit, the Hawks were unable to make a comeback and lost the game 10-4.

Leary said the offense needs to improve if the team wants to win more games.

"In terms of the first game it was a sound game all around," Leary said. "In the second game we gave two bad innings. So we just have to work on being consistent."

Sunday, the Hawks fell to the Colonials 8-1 in the third game of the series.

The Hawks are now 10-8 on the season.

The team is not scheduled to play any league games until later in the season.

The Hawks will travel to face another non-league opponent, Temple University Tuesday at 3:00 p.m.

O'Connor said the Hawks hope to continue their winning record as they approach the middle of their season.

"We just need to keep improving everyday and keep the intensity up," O'Connor said.

Later in the week, the Hawks will look to further improve their record when they travel to Penn State University for the weekend.

The Hawks will face the Nittany Lions on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.